Wow. It’s been over seven years since me and my friends made Hobos in Space: A Musical Tragedy our junior year of high school.

“What is it?” you ask? Well, let me tell you! Hobos in Space is a 50-minute movie musical about a hobo who falls in love in a somewhat Shakespearean way (that is, they die). Somehow, we managed to reserve our high school auditorium on a Saturday night back in the simpler days of 2003, paid a tech friend under the table to let us in and turn some stuff on, and invited our entire student body to attend for free by running trailers on the school’s video announcements. Over 600 people attended the screening — that was more than any single band, orchestra, or choir concert.

It’s one of the projects that I’m most proud of, still to this day, because it was about some really good friends (3 of the 4 hobos who are still best friends) getting together and being creative without any outside influences. And by “outside influences” I don’t mean drugs; I mean that I’ve noticed lately that a lot of my creative friends, both in film and in music, are coming up with ideas based solely on desires to “get noticed” or make a movie that is “film festival material” or develop something that is going to “make money.” There’s not necessarily anything bad about wanting to make something that has high commercial value or a marketable appeal. However, it saddens me that these thoughts often cloud our creativity to the point that our creative voices get somewhat lost, or at least, trampled on. I’d rather be a broke and living on the streets than make something that I wasn’t passionate about.

Let’s go back to 2003. Let’s go back to when things were just “for fun.”

Per one of my graduation requirements for ASU, I had to produce a 8 - 10 minute documentary on a subject of my choice. Since I worked with my friend Dan (who recorded the concerts) and the Arizona Musicfest back in February, I asked them if I could do a piece on their composer in-residence for the week, Mason Bates. I could be boring and just type a bunch of information about him and his music, or I could invite you to watch the 9-minute piece on YouTube. I suggest YouTube.

All your questions can be answered at www.yourbasictuneandlube.com. More likely, however, is that you will have many more questions.

The “Girls Handle Big Balls” music video is finally here!! Enjoy~

I know what you’re thinking (probably something along the lines of “WTF”). What on Earth has Markowski done now? Well, you will find out soon…

If the first thought that just came to your head was “WTF?” then you’re in the right place. An explanation to Ryan in panda-face (above): since sometime back in highschool, me and my friends have been making dumb songs. And I say that with all the love and pride in the world. They’re something we’ve kept somewhat exclusively within our own creative circle, but I’ve recently decided to start sharing them. 

Now when I say “dumb” I don’t necessarily mean that they’re all dumb or that they’re necessarily meant to be “funny”. By “dumb” I just mean… different. Like, Neil Diamond or Bob Dylon different. Or Gary Wilson different. They’re basically whatever we feel like writing — from 80’s tunes you can dance to, to hip-hop, to whatever.

It’s definitely very different from the concert music I write. In fact, if you’re a director rehearsing one of my pieces, consider yourself warned.

Past hits have included A Little More Than Ordinary (folk-y), This Dream (rap-y), A Cheesecrisp is Not a Quesadilla (?-y), Ristorante Italiano (Bocelli-y), and our latest hit, The Information Age (80’s-y). I’ll probably only post the new songs we make from here-on-out, but I may throw in some weird oldies from time-to-time, too. There’s really no describing exactly what they are or why they are. Frankly, we’re not sure we even know. 

But, if you want to help us figure it out, you can subscribe to our pod(music)cast at iTunes for free. Just click the link below or do a search for a podcast called “Your Basic Tune & Lube.” Enjoy!

Subscribe to Your Basic Tune & Lube (clicking this link will launch iTunes)

I haven’t been too happy with Blogger for a while now. They’re partially the reason I haven’t blogged in a month. The lack of customization and the really crappy image uploader just isn’t working for me anymore. So, for the time being, I’ve switched over to wordpress. It’ll be a little while until I get this thing looking as slick as Mackey’s though.

In an on-going effort, I’ve finally printed a short run of Extraordinaro DVDs for cast, crew, and mom and dad. They look awesome thanks to my friend Kevin’s artwork. I can finally put this one to rest. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but I now live in Tempe with my writer friend, Brandon. It’s awesome and about 2 minutes away from downtown Tempe AND downtown Scottsdale. What does that mean? Hot chicks everywhere. We’ve got a two bedroom apartment and it just friggin’ rocks! I’ve sure I’ll blog about the place and Brandon in the future.

For now, I’ve just got to “show up” for the blogging again. Semi-interesting things to come!